Packing Fun

Some of our family members had waaaay more fun packing than others!  Thankfully, it often kept the littles occupied while I (attempted) to pack.

We did get a nice system going.  Jason would make the boxes, Reid would play in them, Carter would laugh at Reid, and I would pack them.  Poor Jason took tons of them, along with some larger things for storage, to our storage unit.  It did make the house look way more presentable, though.

He also found random silly things to do.  Anyone need some "bally socks"??

Carter became obsessed with the remote right around this time, too.  He's male.  I knew it was coming.

More packing fun?  Reid was totally excited to write sight words all over a couple of the boxes after he saw me labeling a few.  Good practice, and I got a good laugh when the box resurfaced in the new house and Reid started "teaching" them to Carter. 

But my favorite packing fun had to be this.  Of course, I missed the very best part at the beginning, but you get the picture.  Great comic relief amidst the chaos!

(belated) Birthday Boy!!

Carter's 1st birthday party was all planned... And then one of the big ice storms hit.  So obviously nobody could drive in that mess, nor could I get out for his first birthday cake.  We made the best of it and dressed him in his cute bday shirt.  He decided to take his first selfie in celebration:

He was his normal, happy self!

Right about the same time, things at home got extremely chaotic.  I consigned for the first time at Divine Consign, a huge kids' consignment sale, which required hours of listing, labeling, and pinning tags on clothing and other items.  The weather ended up being terrible for the drop off (see last post) but I made more money that we'd planned, all of which went towards our upcoming move.  We also began preparing the house to go on the market, which meant all extra hours of the days and weekends were spent packing, de-cluttering, and moving lots of goodies to our new storage unit in an attempt to de-kid our house somewhat...you know, so people could actually see in the closets.  It was tricky since we didn't really know what the closing date would be on our new house, whether or not we'd have to be in temporary housing (and if so, for how long), and keeping the kids out of stuff they didn't need to be in.  Crazily enough, as if there weren't enough already happening, we signed Reid up for t-ball.  Eek!  So it's no wonder poor Carter's bday celebration kept getting pushed back.  Eventually, I just decided we'd have to make it a family celebration.  He didn't know the difference, but Reid kept asking about it and the days kept slipping away.  It was either April or May by the time we had a day to do it right.

Birthday boy was all prepped and ready to go!  He was NOT a fan of the party hats, but Reid sure liked those and the party horns I'd gotten.

 

Carter loooooved his bday present.  I got really creative--his very own box of tissues!  He pulled out about half of the box and then decided he was done.  Then he and Reid played in all of them.  It was quite entertaining.

 

We sang to him, which he loved, let him take out the candles, and have at it.

 

 Not a big fan at first.  "You mean, I have to get all sticky??  No one's gonna feed this stuff to me??"

 Once I gave him a taste and he had his spoon, it was game on!

I knew that first year would fly by, but had no idea it would go so quickly.  This little guy has been such a joy and blessing to our family...the perfect addition!  He is happy, laid back, and loves his big brother.  We are so thankful for God's little boy blessing!!

Picturesque Snow

I had to play around with the camera on the gorgeous snow days.  I mean, let's face it...  Dallas doesn't get snow like this very often. "Heavy" snow and wind??

The shimmering, glittery glints of sun on the snow are probably my very favorite thing about snow.  Or it may tie with how God's handiwork just happens to have each and every snowflake unique...  I will never cease to be amazed!

We've had the camera for awhile, but I never really have time to fiddle with the settings.  I sure enjoyed it on these days!

Even the river birch seemed especially beautiful...

Knowing it would be the last year in our current house made me a little sentimental, too.  I know we'll get snow in the new house, but I did want to make sure we had pictures to show the boys where they'd spent their youngest years.

Many, many wonderful memories have been made here.  We won't miss the lack of storage space in this house, but the patio and yard have been beautiful.  We planted a Japanese maple for each of the boys after they'd been born. (wish we could take those with us!) We have funny memories of landscaping woes, from the infestation of black widows in the mossy rocks one year to the mini lake that forms between our yard and the neighbor's.  But we've had even more fun memories, like the impromptu baseball game with Aunt Lala, Uncle Matt, and the cousins one Memorial Day weekend, visiting with grandparents, family, and friends.  God provided a great place for us to inhabit for these past nearly 10 years. 

More Snow Days!

At the end of February, we had even more snow!!  We ended up having ice, then snow on top...meaning two snow days from school.  Reid was in snow heaven with all this white stuff he could play in.  You couldn't really pack the snow at first, so he made a backyard full of snow angels.  Then we went to the front and he created a snow angel totem pole. 

Jason works quite a ways away and must drive over several high ramps, so he was glued to the traffic reports on tv all morning.  Around lunchtime, we decided to venture down the street and check out the closest main road to our house.  Reid "ice skated" part of the way there.

Once we saw the main road...with very little traffic at all, it certainly didn't seem like a good idea to be driving far in this mess.

A few cars did indeed brave it out of our neighborhood...

Carter took good naps that day, so we had lots of time for snow fun.  Once the sun came out, the snow was perfect for packing.  Reid wanted a snow family, so we created all of us...even a snow Dixie.

Reid and his own snowman

Just before lunchtime, we thought we'd let Carter give the snow another try.  He was still NOT a fan.

So Reid and Jason started a snow fort, then Reid and I made it bigger, and bigger, and bigger...

I tried to convince him to build a really tall snowman, but he was more into the fort.  This was about as tall as he was interested in.

He loved getting his baby brother up from his nap, too.  I couldn't resist snapping a pic of the monitor, and then recording a bit of the silliness.

I was quite grateful for the two snow days with the boys.  The second just happened to be on my ONE year old's birthday (which was great for me, but kind of ruined the celebration we'd planned) and I felt extra grateful :)

February Snow

Our winter weather was crazy in February!  On Friday the 27th, we had a pretty good chance of snow. Of course, it began right after we'd arrived at school.  The kids were crazy, our phones rang off the wall all day with parents checking kids out early, and by 3:30 when I could leave, it was still coming down pretty good.

The roads seemed reasonably good, at least by my school, and I was grateful because I'd spent the previous Monday and Tuesday finishing up my preparation for the huge consignment sale I'd paid my entry fee for.  It had taken hours to gather, sort, enter all the information/description of items, print/cut labels, and then pin them to hangers.  We had a small window to drop them off on Friday and I wasn't sure up until the end if they were even still having the sale or not.  It's seasonal and only happens twice a year, plus we desperately needed these things out of the house since we were about to put it on the market.  Thankfully, they were indeed open and accepting items.  But then I got to my car and began second guessing myself when I saw it!

 

All turned out well and we got everything dropped off.  The views were pretty unbelievable, especially for Texas!

Once I picked the boys up, we raced home, dug out the snow gear (this Texas snow never lasts long and I was afraid we'd miss it the next day), and played until dinnertime.  Someone was NOT a fan...

But I couldn't resist making his first snow angel :)

 

Here's what he thought...

 

Reid was a happy camper, even though the snow didn't really stick together well.  He enlisted Jason to help make the snowballs so they'd stick together.

He was really into making snow angels and was quite proud of his first independent one!

The aftermath:

And the design builder creations just keep getting better...  He's made car hotels, spaceships, you name it!